What Notre Dame and Alabama fans have in common -- seriously (Frances Coleman column)

It’s not easy being green in Alabama these days. You’re taunted, teased and tagged as an outsider, even if you’ve lived in the Heart of Dixie for more than half your life.

And all because you’re rooting for the team your family has supported since long before you were born.

Nevertheless, I will publicly admit that when the pre-game hype is over and the nation’s top teams take the field Monday night, I’ll be cheering for the boys in blue and gold and/or green and white. To do otherwise would be a sacrilege -- a celestial slap in the face of the uncle who sent my brother to Notre Dame in the 1970s, a generation after he and assorted cousins had graduated from there.

It would also insult the memory of our parents, who scrimped to send my brother spending money and who barely managed to afford plane tickets to South Bend to see their son graduate under the benign gaze of Touchdown Jesus.

Worse, it could offend the woman for whom the University of Notre Dame (“Our Lady”) is named: the Virgin Mary herself. You can diss the Mother of God if you like; I’m not going there.

Other people in Alabama will be cheering for Mary’s team Monday night, of course, but it won’t be for love of Notre Dame. Their ranks will include the Auburn fans who wouldn’t spit on Nick Saban if he were on fire, the LSU fans who are praying that God will use the Irish as a conduit to smite the Tide, and the Georgia fans who know that – if it hadn’t been for the final play of the 2012 SEC championship game -- they could have beaten Alabama.

Elsewhere in the country, the people who are weary of Alabama’s dominance or are sick of the SEC will join the folks whose schools were beaten by Notre Dame plus those who hate the Irish for old times’ sake, and they’ll all root against the teams they love to hate.

True fans have purer motives. They root for teams -- and there is where Notre Dame and Alabama fans can find common ground. For them, Monday night doesn’t have to be a hate fest. It can be a love fest that celebrates the best of the two universities.

It can salute the memories of great men and championships-gone-by while also highlighting the talents and potential of today’s coaches and players. It can recognize the glory days of college football, when the sport was simpler, and at the same time acknowledge the changes that have made the sport more intense, more competitive and even more exciting.

In truth, the two universities have more in common than some of their fans might admit. The campuses are beautiful, the academic programs are good and the football programs are legendary. Not to mention the fact that both schools have had coaches so famous, their memories are evoked by a mere word.

As for the fans themselves, their passion is simply unrivaled. Devotees on both sides consider supporting their teams a sacred obligation. Like me, most can tell stories of ancestors who attended one university or the other – perhaps both – and even played a little ball for the Bear or Knute, Ara or Lou.

If Alabama fans tell a few too many “Hail Mary, full of grace” jokes in the coming days, Lord, who can blame them? They’re still smarting because their demigod, Bear Bryant, never beat the Irish. If Notre Dame fans are even more obnoxious than usual, forgive them, too, Father, for they haven’t had a national championship in more than two decades.

The day after Monday’s game will be heaven for one group and hell for the other. Until then, may we all be reasonably polite.

In particular, may those of us who live in Alabama but root for Notre Dame remember that regardless of which team wins, we’ll have something to crow about.

Frances Coleman is a freelance writer living in Baldwin County. Email her at fcoleman1953@gmail.com and “like” her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.